RANDY BEAVER MEMORIAL JUNIOR GOLF TOURNAMENT
STORIES BY TODD TRAUB
Time may be running out on Hunter Smith in junior golf, but he made time stand still Wednesday.
In the next to last event of his junior career, Smith dominated his home course with a 10-stroke victory in the Randy Beaver Memorial ASGA Junior Golf Tournament at Cabot’s Rolling Hills Country Club.
Smith, of Cabot, shot a final-round 67 on the 18-hole, par-72 course. He matched his first-day 67 for an overall 134 and a clear victory over his closest pursuer Brik Brauberger, who shot a 144.
“I play it every day,” Smith said of Rolling Hills, the course that has been his home since he took up the game almost 15 years ago.
Smith, 17, an incoming senior at Cabot High School and the 2009 ASGA junior champion, showed his comfort level with shots like the one he hit approaching the green on the 380-yard No. 18.
Smith hit a sand wedge 100 yards and left himself a one-foot putt to birdie the par 4 hole.
“I birdied the last hole the last two days,” Smith said.
Whit Parker shot a 78-82—160 to win the boys 12-13 division and Peyton Herald shot an 80-76—156 to win the 14-15 age group.
It wasn’t all fun and games for Smith, despite his strong score. In Tuesday’s opening round he had to overcome a bogey on the 456-yard No. 3 hole and a double bogey on the 454-yard No. 12.
“Yesterday I had a double bogey and a bogey and today I thought I played a lot better than that,” Smith said Wednesday. “But I missed a few short putts. Still I’m pleased with 67s both days.”
No. 3 and 12 are par 4s, and the key for Smith was to do well on the par 5s like the 491-yard No. 2, with a slight dogleg to the left; the 507-yard No. 7; the 466-yard No. 11 and the 495-yard No. 16, with a ditch in front of the tee, a slight dogleg to the right and an out-of-bounds road behind the green.
With few other obstructions or hazards, Smith knew he had a chance to do well on the big holes if he kept the ball in the middle of the fairway.
“The par 5s, they’re real easy,” Smith said. “So I figured if I was going to stay in there and keep my lead, I had to birdie those holes so that helped me out a lot.”
It was the first year for the Randy Beaver Memorial, named after long-time club pro Randy Beaver, but it was another day at the office for Smith on the course he knows so well.
“I figured I had a little advantage over the field,” he said. “Kind of today I was just playing myself. The guys in my group got off to a slow start.”
Smith’s last ASGA junior event will be the stroke-play championship in Texarkana next week. He plans to focus on high school golf next year and, free from the state junior schedule, to try to qualify for as many out-of-state amateur events as he can.
“Because I wont be able to play juniors so I’ll just go play,” Smith said.
